On today’s ASI Radio Show, Norwood’s president and CEO Paul Lage talked about the recent acquisition of his company by BIC Graphic. The following is the interview transcript of Paul Lage during the ASI Radio Show:

[BEGIN TRANSCRIPT]

Melinda Ligos (ASI): So Paul, tell us what’s been going on, this is obviously a surprise to many in the industry.

Paul Lage (Norwood): BIC actually got involved about a month ago, the process that we went through involves an actual auction process and, although Aurora was the company that we went into the event with, BIC stepped up fairly early in the process and showed a lot of interest and, in a relatively short period of time became very comfortable with the business and took some major steps forward in the auction and won and now we’re basically owned by BIC.

Dave Vagnoni (ASI): I want to get right to this question about staff and facilities, what will this deal mean for Norwood’s future?

PL: Business as usual. The staffs at Norwood will remain the same. The staffs at BIC will remain the same. Facilities will remain the same. We’re going to operate as two separate entities for now, at least. But we will be looking for some synergies across the organization.

DV: And how about management? What will be your role going forward?

PL: My role right now is still president and chief operating officer, or chief executive officer for Norwood, we’re still working through details in terms of titles and responsibilities. We’ll probably have more information on that in the next couple weeks.

DV: And how about brand identity? Will BIC and Norwood basically be separate from a product line standpoint?

PL: Yes. That’s the easy answer. I think Norwood has worked very hard especially over the last three years to develop its brand, and BIC has probably the leading brand in the industry. So, no, there’s opportunities, we each have a little bit different personality to our brand so I think they complement each other very well.

ML: And now, Paul, obviously you were at BIC for many years, is there any consideration of you going back to BIC?

PL: There was a huge deja vu factor that kicked in here. I certainly have a lot of experience there and I hope I have the opportunity to at least participate in some of the BIC parts of the business, but again that’s probably a bit premature in terms of those decisions being made.